Merry Christmas!

Enjoy your holiday as much as possible. I'm taking a few days off, no long articles the next week. Hopefully the new year will hold some pleasant surprises for us all!

Lego + Back to the Future will happen!

Again with the news? Well, I actually have something to say about these news, and you can't really call it news when Lego themselves broke the story.

The next Lego Cuusoo (sets designed by fans) project will be Back to the Future!

Here's my opinion: Lego just can't do anything wrong at this point.

And they're beating all other toy makers in the process. The modular buildings and massive Star Wars sets are doing it for the adult collector. The mini-figures and Ninjago are taking everything away from more conventional action figures. Lego is also beating the others in price, playability, creative designs. Honestly, name one collector who'd rather have the Hobbit action figures than the new Lego Hobbit sets!

The Cuusoo project have been something refreshing, different. Something new. It's basically sets that are designed by fans, and voted on by fans. At 10000 votes, Lego decides if they can more along with the project, realizing it. 

The Minecraft set (to the left) is such a set, and if I had been just a tiny bit interested in Minecraft, I'd be all over it. Multiples. The reason Cuusoo is such a good idea, isn't just that we're getting fan-designed sets, but that fans are allowed to think beyond the regular boundaries of Lego - basically anything goes, anything can be submitted to Lego, and it's up to other fans to promote the set and get the ten thousand votes.

Fearless Photog

In a way, Cuusoo reminds me of a more serious version of Mattel's one-time deal, "design a figure", which led to Fearless Photog. Mattel, acting their usual self, didn't come through with their promise to make Nathan Bitners "Heroic warrior of cameras" back in the 80s. But they eventually made him, earlier this year. A cool figure, but way too late. Picture borrowed from Poe Ghostal, who has a blog worth checking out. 

Obviously, not all projects that reach 10000 votes can be done, since Lego has to work out rights to make the sets. For instance, we'd have a hard time getting a Cuusoo Transformers set, since the rights to Transformers construction sets are at.. Hasbro I believe. 

But Lego and the Cuusoo group are obviously optimistic about the Back to the Future set. And that's a good thing! It's about time we got good BTTF toys!

Remember Mattel's massive fiasco last month, when they revealed the steaming pile of excrement that was their "screen-accurate prop replica" of the Hoverboard from Back to the Future movies? Well, luckily Mattel isn't the only toy maker allowed to touch the amazing BTTF franchise. 

This has me seriously excited at least! Will you be in time for this set? 

Marizpan Confection Makes Christmas (for me anyway)

Again, like last year (and the previous couple of years), I have been making marzipan for Christmas. It's not really difficult, and it makes for great, small gifts. Wrap them up in cellophane, or just in a napkin. Place them in a tiny box, and you'll have a perfect little gift that people will love (unless they're allergic to nuts, that is).

Marzipan is made from almonds, usually. You can use other nuts as well. I have had success using a mix between almonds and hazel nuts. 

I mix ground nuts and powdered sugar with a 60/40 ratio. Use less powdered sugar if you want it more bitter in taste, and obviously more if you want it sweeter. 

Mix this together with a tiny amount of liquid. You can use water if you want, or orange juice. I prefer to use egg white. The egg white makes the marzipan easier to work with, to mold. 

If you want white marzipan, you'll have to remove the shell of the almonds or nuts. There's no quick way to do that. Dip them in boiling water until the shell starts peeling. Simply remove the shell. Easy enough, but now you'll have to let the almonds dry up again. I never find patience to do this, so I simply make the marzipan using the entire almond. 

It looks far less exciting when it's presented like this, but the marzipan balls are essentially ready to be eaten. We're going to cover them in chocolate too. You could also bake them in the oven if you want. 

Now comes the time to be creative. If you want to have a core of chocolate, roasted nuts, jam or fudge, then just wrap the marzipan around. These particular ones are just pure marzipan through and through. 

I continue to dip them in melted chocolate, before I roll them in chopped almonds and hazel nuts.

I also did a batch where I rolled them in sprinkles. This was a disaster - obviously I shouldn't have rolled balls in the sprinkles, I should have sprinkled the sprinkles over the balls. It's all in the word. The sprinkles were assimilated by the melted chocolate and well.. Tasted pretty good though. 

Again, great gifts. Or just a snack that will bring forth that Christmas spirit. 

Enjoy, people!

Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles

Today we're all treated to a guest article from my good friend, Aaron.

An enthusiast like my self, Aaron has unique knowledge on several vintage toy lines. What's cool is that Aaron has very specific passions. He's an avid collector of anything Indiana Jones, for instance. He's also getting increasingly better at writing about his hobbies, which has led to him starting his own blog. It's absolutely worth checking out. Leave him comments, and encourage him to continue writing.

But like all good people, Aaron isn't a one-trick pony. It's not just the Indy toys. He knows a thing or two about more obscure toy lines as well.

Like Sgt. Savage. This is where I'm at an absolute blank. I believe I have a Sgt. Savage figure, I know the toys are slightly bigger than G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero figures. I know they were released sometime in the mid-90s. I know the story is set to World War 2. And that's it.
Luckily Aaron steps up to share his knowledge on Sgt. Savage!

Read on!

Selling out? Expanding and changing the blog, advertisement

Toys and Bacon is simply something I do for fun, and to keep myself and my writing sort of disciplined.
I think it's fantastic to get feedback and positive comments, because that means someone else are enjoying the blog too. That feedback, along with the pats on the back I give myself is the only thing I get out of the blog. I make exactly no money out of my writing, and the articles I have published will not get me a better job than the one I already have.

 You may notice a couple of ads in the right column. They have been there for 8 months, and haven't generated anything. I believe people have to click them for me to make money, and naturally no one does that. I wouldn't either. But I am tempted to have more/different ads, or maybe even a donation option. I put a lot of time in to the blog, and it would be cool to get something of substance back. I mean, even just a couple of $, to support the occasional minifigure would be nice.

Now comes the question of generating more visitors, because - believe it or not - this isn't the most popular site on the web. I have a couple of loyal readers, and honestly, I love you all. I also have a couple of visitors coming in through google searches. But really, Toys and Bacon can barely even be considered a niche site. While I feel that some of my articles are fairly universal, it should also be obvious that the content is tailor made for the absolutely selected (and awesome) few.

I will not sell out, of course. I will not start writing about sports, cars or fashion. I will not publish youtube unboxings or funny cat videos. I will not do breaking news or thorough review of new toys. I would like to simply continue writing articles about the stuff I like.  And there actually is one thing I like, that also happens to be a favorite among the average internet user: top lists. I notice that many of my lists have been a lot more popular than my other articles. So with that in mind, I will try to publish more top lists.

Another change will happen with the schedule. People just aren't reading the blog in the weekend, and the usual Figure Friday article have easily been the one I've worked on the most. This discrepancy can't continue. I think I will continue with articles three times per week, but I'm moving the heavy toy article to another day. Friday could maybe either be a shorter, meta-article, a few quick thoughts on a specific subject, or maybe even just a weekend-dinner suggestion?

So, this is where you readers come in. What day would be best suited for the Figure Friday-style article? What would it be called? What kind of lists would you like to see? What other changes could be done? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Anyway, no Figure Friday today, obviously.

Enjoy your weekend, people, and remember to share your passions!

Decepticon Headmasters w/heads

Friday, I showed off a nice little lot of Decepticon Headmasters I picked up on ebay. I wouldn't say I scored a fantastic deal, seeing as none of them had any accessories. But they are still extremely popular - and valuable toys to the point where they were totally worth the $25 for the lot- price, even if I plan to use them just for parts.

I'm not a completist by any means, not when it comes to the robots anyway. So I don't necessarily care if a robot is missing a gun or something. They still display nicely.

But the Headmasters are different. Their accessories are body parts - in both/all modes! Their weapons have a tendency to be an integrated part of the disguise mode. Like a tail, or a wing. And their drivers - the actual Headmasters - are just that. The heads of the robots. All of them are completely headless in robot mode, and one of them lacks his head in the alternate mode too!

Take Snapdragon, for instance. I'll have a hard time displaying him as a dinosaur at all, without his actual headmaster head.

But I realized something cool: Regardless of their lack of accessories, suddenly, I actually had all the Decepticon Headmasters: Scorponok, Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, Weirdwolf and Snapdragon.

Almost all of them, that is. I'm missing quite possibly the coolest one: Apeface.

But I couldn't let them stand there without their heads. I found my KO Japanese Headmaster Head set, and found the ones that fit best in terms of colors and style.

Weirdwolf got the head from Grand Maxiums. The teal color was a dead match, but obviously the style doesn't quite work. Grand Maximus is quite the hero, while Weirdwolf is the exact opposite: A vicious villain.

Skullcruncher got the purple head with the spikes. I have no idea who this is, but with the wicked grin, I'd assume it's a Decepticon. The style works out, but the colors aren't quite there.

The KO headmaster I used for Snapdragon actually transforms into a tiny elephant. It doesn't make sense, but that could be said about a lot of Transformers. Never the less, it works ok as Snapdragon's head, at least in robot mode. The style is sort of animalistic, and the colors are good enough.
And finally, I actually have the driver/head for my Mindwipe, and strangely enough, it was the best match too.

Finding the Christmas Spirit

These days it's difficult, for many reasons. The biggest reason is that Christmas starts way earlier than it used to. You don't even have to go that far back. 15-20 years ago, Christmas decorations in late November was unheard of, let along early November. This has watered out, weakened the esoteric emotion of a potential Christmas spirit. Then there's the fact that Christmas no longer is about emotions. Well, that's not entirely correct, but the emotions connected to Christmas today are different, in some way stronger.
Ideally, the holiday should be about getting together with family and friends, having nice meals and showing you care about them. For many, it's still like that. But there's the added pressure. The extremely high expectations. The rabid consumerism.

Make no mistake about it: I like to buy stuff, and I like stuff in general. I have closets filled with stuff.
I also love to give stuff to others. I take pride in finding tailor-fit gifts for the people I care about. But I'm not sure I like the pressure of having to buy and receive gifts just because the stores, the market forces tells me to. I don't shy away from the responsibility, I take it as a challenge. But that's just it, it shouldn't be a responsibility - and I know many people, especially parents, look at it that way. Where have we gone wrong?

I will  get back  to this topic, with even more rant. And hopefully some good words as well, because there are tons of elements of Christmas, and gift giving I love. Home made gifts, for instance. Love it! Whether it's custom made piggy banks from my sister, cakes from my mother, or a scarf from Roxi.

The point today was finding the Christmas spirit the right way. No Coca Cola commercials, no 24 hour open malls, not by spending thousands of moneys on gifts, not by being forced to live up to expectations.
But by getting together with good people, eating and drinking, having a good time.

We got told to bring seasonal cakes and cookies. We got presented with Christmas brewery - and after a while some really nice single malt whisky. A great evening, Christmas spirit the right way.